Collapsible file folder



April 22, 1969 e. A. OLSON 3,439,861

COLLAPSIBLE FILE FOLDER Filed Dec. 29, 1967 FIG. 2.

INVENTOR GUST A. OLSON BY Km AGENT United States Patent 3,439,861 COLLAPSIBLE FILE FOLD-ER Gust A. Olson, 2030 Manning Ave., West Los Angeles, Calif. 90025 Filed Dec. 29, 1967, Ser. No. 694,640 Int. Cl. B65d /00 U.S. Cl. 229-16 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A collapisble file folder formed of an integral blank and typically having a narrow aspect when assembled, with an open top and slanting sides to allow easy insertion and withdrawal of the contents. A series of tabs extend from the bottom and the front and engage corresponding slots in flaps on the other side of the blank. This engagement positions the edges of the bottom downward, imparting stable equilibrium to the upstanding file folder. A curved embodiment superiorly holds thin filed material.

Background of the invention This invention pertains to a collapsible file folder. It is suited for filing contents vertically when it is assembled. It may be assembled and disassembled as often as desired.

The prior art has disclosed only boxes that either have such construction and configuration as to be useless for the present purpose, or that are not collapsible. Typical art embraces display stands or bottle carriers. No mention is made of a construction having stable equilibrium. Most of the items are permanently glued at a plurality of places. Most constructions are relatively complicated and expensive to manufacture and assemble.

Summary of the invention- The collapsible file folder of this invention can be stamped from a single piece of material in one operation. Having tabs and slots for fastening, it may be assembled and disassembled as often as desired. Typical proportions result in the tabs butting against the inside of a side, giving strength to the assembly. Since the tabs enter inwardly through slots, the edges of the bottom of the folder are further downward than the center of the bottom and so the folder has stable equilibrium as it stands in use.

In an alternate embodiment, simple fasteners are inserted through holes in the front and back of the folder and through adjacent tabs to provide additional strength; also, optionally, through a front tab and the front flap. Such fasteners are preferably of the metal type, or equivalent, which can be bent to hold two thicknesses of material and can be straightened to be removed from the material by ones fingers, thereby allowing disassembly.

In a further alternate embodiment the bottom structure is formed in a plurality of sections, whereby the bottom and the sides of the folder take on arcuate shapes upon the folder being assembled.

Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 shows the single blank shaped to constitute the file folder.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the folder assembled.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional front elevational view along line 3 in FIG. 2 detailing the relation between the tabs and slots and the alternate embodiment employing a fastener.

3,439,861 Patented Apr. 22, 1969 ice FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the curved further alternate embodiment.

Description of preferred embodiments In FIG. 1 numeral 1 generally indicates the single piece of sheet material (the integral blank) from which the entire collapsible file folder is formed. A suitable material is fiberboard; of which chipboard, heavy paper board and pressboard are examples. A similar stiff but bendable plastic material; such as polyethylene, polypropylene or ABS compositions, may also be used. A thickness of or of an inch is suitable for the material, which thicknesses are known as 30 point and 45 point in the trade.

The blank has a centrally located back 2, which is vertically disposed when the folder is in use. The horizontal dimension of the back determines the thickness of filed material that can be contained within the folder. Typically, this dimension is 2 /2" for a folder that is 12" high and 9" deep. The width of the back is determined by score 3 and score 4, which are provided for ease and accuracy of folding. The term score is used in the trade; the terms crease or indentation may also be used to describe the compression of the material of the blank along a line.

Since the folder is formed of only a single piece of material it can be cut from sheet stock in one stroke of a press by employing a suitable die. This die can also be provided with pressure-exerting elements to form the scores required at the same time.

Sides 5 and 6 are of pentagonal shape and respectively share scores 3 and 4 with back 2. While rectangular, partially circular, or other shapes may be chosen for the sides the slanting forward cut-out portions of the pantagonal sides are most convenient in filing or removing contents to be filed. The pentagonal shape is asymmetric.

Typical contents may include loose or folded papers, pamphlets, magazines, paper-back books and similar items having dimensions approaching but not exceeding 8 /2 x 11" for the folder dimensions given above. Larger or smaller contents can be accommodated by forming larger or smaller folders. Also, the height-width-depth relationship may be altered to suit general stock room and equivalent requirements.

Bottom 7 is appended at the lower edge of side 5, with score 8 for bending being common to both. Similarly, front 9 is appended at the right edge of side 5 and score 10 is common to both.

Bottom fiaps 11 is appended at the lower edge of side 6 and score 12 is common to both. Front flap 14 is appended at the left edge of side 6 and score 15 is common to both.

Flap 16 is appended at the left edge of bottom 7, having score 17 in common, and flap 18 is appended at the right edge of bottom 7, having score 19 in common.

At the lower edge of bottom 7 a plurality of tabs 21 extend farther downward. Four or five such tabs are preferred in this series. These are preferably formed with spaces about three-fourths of the width of the tabs. The length of each tab is about half that of its width. At the right edge of front 9 a second series of tabs 22 extend farther, with the preferred spacing and length the same as before.

Each of the above mentioned tabs preferably has its corners slightly cut off to facilitate initial engagement of the tabs in respective slots, but are proportioned to fit snugly within the slots when fully engaged. In fact, each 3 tab may be narrowed at its base to provide a locking effect upon full engagement in its respective slot.

Bottom flap 11 has the same number of slots 23 as there are tabs 21 and the slots are similarly spaced, so that each tab 21 will enter a slot 23 when the folder is assembled. Similarly, flap 14 has the same number of slots 24 as there are tabs 22 and the slots are similarly spaced, so that these will mate upon assembly. Typically, the series of slots 23 and 24 are cut out by punch elements on the die for the whole blank at the same time as cutting edges cut the blank to the form required for the whole folder and as other elements indent the sereval scores. In accordance with an alternate embodiment, holes 25 and 26 in flaps 16 and 18, respectively, hole 27 at the bottom of back 2, hole 28 at the bottom of front 9, hole 32 in the top tab of the series 22 and hole 33 near the top of flap 14, are also punched out by appropriate punches which act in concert with the die. This single stroke operation is an advantage in manufacturing.

The folder is preferably assembled as follows. Assuming that blank 1 is lying horizontally, flaps 1'6 and 18 are bent upwards at right angles to bottom 7 along scores 17 and 19, respectively. Bottom 7 is bent upwards at right angles to side along score 8. Front 9 is bent upwards at right angles to side 5 along score 10. Flap 11 is bent upwards at right angles to side 6 along score 12. Flap 14 is bent upwards at right angles to side 6 along score 15. Side 5 is bent upwards at right angles to back 2 along score 3. Side 6 is bent upwards at right angles to back 2 along score 4.

In accomplishing the above, attention is given to position flaps 1 6 and 18 inside of back 2 and front 9, respectively.

Finally, tabs 21 are forced through slots 23 from the under to the upper side of flap 11. See FIG. 3. Similarly, tabs 22 are forced trough slots 24 from the front to the back of flap 14. See FIG. 2.

These operations complete the assembly of the file folder, which is seen to be very simple and such as to allow disassembly in a much shorter time. For disassembly, tabs 22 are merely removed from slots 24 and tabs 21 from slots 23, after which the several right angle folds are bent back to be flat.

The folders as manufactured may be stored entirely flat as shown in FIG. 1. Alternately, the width of the dissembled folder can be halved by making a 180 fold along score 3. This causes flap 14 to overlie front 9, with back 2 in the upper layer of the fold, thereby making a configuration of minimum area.

In FIG. 3 it is seen how the relation of tabs 21 to slots 23 results in edges 30 and 31 being downwardmost, thus providing stable equilibrium for the file folder. Also, with the ends of tabs 21 hard against the inner surface of side 6 a bracing action is obtained. Further, the doubling of the height (thickness of material) at tabs 21-flap 11 increases the strength by a factor of eight, in keeping with known strength of beams theory.

Flaps 16 and 18, being folded at right angles to bottom 7 and positioned Within the file folder are in surface-tosurface contact with back 2 and front 9, respectively. This provides additional strength to the bottom element.

Even greater strength can be provided by inserting fastener 34 through each pair of mating holes 25, 27 and 26, 28. This may be a round-head split-leg paper fastener as illustrated in FIG. 3.

Preferably, the head of each fastener is on the outside of the bolder and the legs are bent 180 apart on the inside. Such fasteners may be quickly removed for dis assembling the folder.

Also, when the folder is used to store material which fastener may be use in holes 32 and 33.

A top view of an alternate embodiment of an assembled collapsible file folder is shown in FIG. 4. The bottom is tends to separate tabs 22 and slots 24 an additional now in plural sections, as 7A, 7B and 70, by virtue of cuts 35 and 36. These cuts extend the entire Width of previous bottom 7 and may have cut out portions in the shape of isosceles triangles to allow the sections of the bottom to telescope at side 6. The width of the bases of these triangles may be such that a butt joint formed at lines 35 and 36, or the width of the bases may be less, which results in a slight lap of one section of the bottom, such as section 7A over adjacent section 7B, and so on. The bottom flaps are now also formed in plural sections, as 11A, 11B and 110.

With this configuration sides 5 and 6 are of different lengths horizontally and are equidistantly constrained to curved surfaces, rather than to planar surfaces as in FIG. 2. The relation of front 9 and flap 18 to bottom 7A is the same as before to bottom 7, as is back 2 and flap 16 to bottom 7C.

While this curved embodiment may be used for any purpose, it is particularly useful for vertical filing of long pieces of thin paper folded upon itself, such as results from the print-out of an electronic line printer. Such a multifolded paper stack is placed within the file folder with one edge of the paper against the bottom 7ABC and the other edge upstanding, at or near the tops of sides 5 and 6. When such a stack of thin paper has the curve imparted to it by the embodiment of FIG. 4 it is found to stand up and not to collapse of its own weight, even though it may not completely fill the folder. The curvature employed may be greater (a smaller radius) or less than that shown in FIG. 4, and the plurality of bottom sections may be reduced to a minimum of two or increased to four, five, or more. In FIG. 4 each bottom section has three tabs 21 and each bottom flap three slots 23.

I claim:

1. A collapsible file folder formed of an integral blank (1) comprising:

(a) a back (2),

(b) first (5) and second (6) sides folded substantially at right angles to said back,

(c) a bottom (7) and a front (9) folded from said first side,

(d) a series of tabs (21, 22) extending from each of said bottom and said front,

(e) at least one bottom flap (11) and also a front flap (14) folded from said second side, and

(f) a series of slots (23, 24) disposed in each of said flaps,

(g) said tabs passed through said slots into the interior of said file holder,

whereby the edges of the bottom and the bottom flap extend slightly below the remaining surface of the rest of these elements to form a stable upstanding structure.

2. The file folder of claim 1 which additionally includes:

(a) flaps (16, 18) extending from each end of said bottom (7) and disposed within said file folder as assembled.

3. The folder of claim 2 which additionally includes:

(a) mating holes (25, 27) in one flap (16) and back (2) and also in the other flap (18) and front (9), and

(b) a removable fastener (34) inserted through each of said mating holes to fasten the respective adjacent elements.

4. The folder of claim 1, in which:

(a) said tabs (21) have a length sufi'icient to extend to and to contact the side (6) which carries said flap (11),

whereby the rigidity of said folder is enhanced upon said tabs having been passed through said slots (23) and being in contact with said side 5. The folder of claim 1, having the disassembled configuration in which:

(a) said back (2) and said second side (6) overlay said front (9) and said first side (5).

6. The folder of claim 1, in which:

(a) said bottom and said bottom flap are each formed of plural sections (7A7C11A11C), of lesser length on the side having said bottom flap than the length of each bottom section at the side opposite said bottom flap,

whereby upon engagement of the tabs of the bottom sections with the slots of the flap sections said sides are equidistantly apart constrained to curved surfaces.

6 7. The folder of claim 6, in which:

(a) each said section of said bottom partially laps an adjacent section.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,686,458 10/1928 McColl 20657 2,182,858 12/1939 Thompson.

1 DAVID M. BOCKENEK, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 229-39; 20657 

